


Sumire-san: Love is a Dance

by whenyouwriteinbed



Series: Sumire-san: Love is a Dance [1]
Category: Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Metaverse (Persona 5), F/M, Kaguya-sama love is war parody, Not In Chronological Order
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:01:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25110556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whenyouwriteinbed/pseuds/whenyouwriteinbed
Summary: A series of snippets of the story between a delinquent and an honor student forced to spend a day a week together, and the sort of mishaps that can come out of it when they're left on their own.This will not be told in chronological order, as I will write this when I want to pause and think about how to do things in Recollections.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi, Kurusu Akira/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi, Persona 5 Protagonist/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi
Series: Sumire-san: Love is a Dance [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1800844
Comments: 18
Kudos: 130





	1. Akira wants a bite

Shujin Academy.

A prep school that has been lauded for its academics with a budding athletic scene, it was a school that any high schooler would proudly have on their resume.

However, not everything is as rosy for the students at the academy.

In the wake of the Kamoshida scandal, the school has tried to find ways to correct its image. As such, they created a program that they believed could do such a thing.

Starting after the first exams of the year, Shujin Academy rolled out two policies that the student body had a mixed reception to.

First was to have a counselor come in and help deal with student issues that had come from the wake of Kamoshida.

The counselor was met with adornment from female students and general uninterest by the males.

Second was the implementation of the ‘Spectrum Adjustment’ project, which was the thing that the students were less than enthused about.

The idea was to take students who were on opposite ends of supposed a spectrum and put them together in a room after school or during lunch once a week and having them talk to each other.

Naturally, a forced event by the school would be unpopular, but the true target of many the students’ ire was one of their own.

Said student was currently walking to one of these sessions in the student council room, his glasses somewhat blocked by the unruly curls that went down his neutral face, ignoring the whispers around him.

Kurusu Akira.

Second-year transfer student with a criminal record; most of the student body keeps their distance from him. Rumor had it that he had killed before, and a lack of evidence is what kept him clean. There were even rumors that he carried a knife on him during school. His unchanging expression when he was asked about killing someone didn’t help him much either.

What made things even harder were the rumors that he was the one who outed Kamoshida for revenge over a threat of expulsion. While there was no proof that he was the one who leaked the information, no one wanted to find out and risk having their information out for the public to see.

But that on its own wasn’t enough to have him be hated to this degree.

No, the real reason was the person he was paired with for the project.

With a knock, Akira opened the door to see two people sitting there.

“Well.” One of them stood up, picking up her bag as she made her way to the door.

“I know you two will be fine, so if you would pardon me,” she said, making her way past Akira as he slid into the seat that was previously occupied, looking at the girl who was his partner for the program.

“Are you ready?’ he asked, pulling his lunch out as the girl, slightly adjusting her glasses after she nodded, looking the other way as she brought her lunch out.

Yoshizawa Sumire.

One of the two first-year honor students in the academy, she was a target of affection for many of the first-year students. Despite her nervous appearance, she was a top-level gymnast along with her twin sister, Yoshizawa Kasumi, and was well-liked by the students who were ‘close’ to her.

However, after years of being used as a stepping stone for others to get closer to her sister, Sumire had closed her heart off to many, not wanting to associate with anyone who was only after her sister and had few friends as a result.

She had hoped that by keeping to herself, no one would try to get near her and leave her alone like she wanted. Seeing that protected state she was in had only made Akira want to dig in deeper though, with recent memories made him keep prodding the waters, hoping to see if could take off the mask that was hiding the real girl beneath.

And today, he had another ploy to try and take off her mask.

Opening his lunch, Akira moved his hand to realize he had forgotten to take out his chopsticks. Bending over to pick them up, he looked back at Sumire, who was opening the first of her three boxes.

Akira’s lunch was far from special. Every day, he would stop partway through his commute to school and by a boxed lunch or some sandwiches that were sold at convenience stores in Shibuya, with a price range of 300 to 500 yen.

Today was a boxed lunch made of a _karaage_ set with a potato salad and half a boiled egg on the side. While it was by no means a bad meal, Akira had been eating like this for nearly a month now.

After a lifetime of lunches that were made properly with care, it would be wrong to say that Akira wasn’t jealous of the food on the other side of the table.

The first box of Sumire’s lunch, as was the pattern by now, comprised mostly of vegetables, be it steamed, pan-fried, stewed or raw, and today was a day where one of Akira’s favorites had shown up.

“You know, with all these boxed lunches, I miss some of the flavors of homemade food,” he started, mind already calculating what sort of response he would get.

A quiet, ‘is that so,’ came from Sumire as she looked down, continuing to eat her food as if to end the conversation.

“Yeah, and I hear all the time how some first years are jealous of Kasumi because of the food that she eats for lunch.”

The first part had been set.

Stiffening up at the mentioning of her sister, Sumire looked away, seemingly contemplating how she should respond.

“Why don’t you ask her for some then?” she said after a few seconds of thought, the section set for broccoli disappearing in the time she thought of her response.

This was normal for her.

Someone would mention Kasumi in an attempt to make her talk, and Sumire would say some off-handed things to make them leave and end the conversation end there.

However, …

“Oh, I would,” Akira started, a grin on his lips as Sumire continued to look away, thinking that he would say something about how she would never approach him under normal circumstances.

“But I want it from the source.”

Pausing as she heard the reply, Sumire looked at him for the first time that day, seemingly trying to calculate how he knew.

“It’s so simple really,” Akira grinned, eating a piece of chicken as he watched her thinking, the though ‘she’s cute’ crossing his mind many times.

“She talks in a manner where it’s so obvious that’s she proud of a certain someone who makes it for her,” he continued, while Sumire tried to think of what he was talking about.

“She never says that I make it,” she responded, thinking that Kasumi was embarrassed to say that it was her sister who made the food.

“Oh, but I never said you made it.” Akira let the statement sit for a moment before Sumire looked like she was panicking, as if a secret of hers had been leaked.

“When I walk by her talking about it, she never says that she could make such good food. It comes off as her trying to be humble, but when you have the same meals as her,” Akira grinned as he popped another piece of chicken in his mouth, as Sumire started to squirm in her seat.

“It sounds like she loves your cooking, Sumire.”

The room fell silent, as Sumire seemed more surprised than angry that he would say such a thing.

“Wha, it, it’s not like my cooking is that good,” Sumire said quietly, making her way forward into her vegetable box as she lowered her head in embarrassment.

“You can say that, but I can’t tell if I don’t taste it,” Akira said, taking the disposable chopsticks that came with his lunch as he slid it across the table along with the lid of his lunch.

“Surely I can tell after I’ve eaten some,” Akira said with a satisfied grin, watching as Sumire started to place some of her food on the lid, sliding it back and watched.

Taking the lid, Akira watched as Sumire looked at him, as if daring him to say that it was good food.

“It’s not great, right,” Sumire said, her eyes watching as Akira ate, waiting for a look of inevitable disappointment on his face.

A smile.

“I can see why she brags.”

With a look of disbelief, Sumire shoveled through her food, moving on to her second box and finishing her third box in ten minutes, packing up and walking out of the door with a flushed look on her face.

Sitting there as he worked on the rest of the boxed set he had, Akira could already feel the flavor becoming bland in his mouth.

“It was really good.”

Today’s result: Akira wins.  
(He smiled the rest of the day, scaring many students)


	2. Kasumi is suspicious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was supposed to be a manga chapter of Kaguya posted on Thursday.  
> There wasn't.  
> I wrote this to get my mind off of it.

As she walked down the street, a brunette was constantly checking her phone, making sure that she had gotten the information correct.

Her hair swung with her step, a red ribbon tying up her ponytail as it swayed, bouncing with her quick pace.

Even if you were to look at her stature, the energy she emitted was enough for most people to clear her path.

Why?

Because it was for her sister.

Yoshizawa Kasumi.

Elder sister of her twin Sumire, Kasumi was also an honor student at Shujin and was the reason that the pair had ended up at the school. Normally, she wouldn’t think that being given a position of an honor student wasn't that bad, and thought Sumire would agree with her.

However, Kasumi had only recently come to realize the stress that her sister had undergone from being in her shadow. After only barely pulling her back from walking into oncoming traffic did Kasumi realize how much damage she had done charging ahead without looking back, as Sumire would barely speak to her once school had started.

As such, Kasumi made it her personal mission to do everything she could to pull Sumire out of the darkness she left her in, and to keep anything from getting in her way of doing so.

Stopping in front of a small cafe, Kasumi glanced back down at her phone, the name Leblanc matching her screen and the sign.

Taking a breath to calm herself and hide her emotions, she walked in.

“Welcome.”

Pausing at the voice, Kasumi was somewhat surprised to see her target be the one behind the counter.

Kurusu Akira, the one that the school decided they would throw her sister at in order to work their stupid ‘Spectrum Project’ or whatever they called it. Everything that was said about him was less than ideal, and he seemed to have a circle of friends who no one wanted to get close to. She would have to be careful.

After a few seconds, she responded with a simple nod and sat at the counter, watching as Akira kept glancing towards the stairs in the back of the shop.

Thinking nothing of it, she looked up at the small boards that made up the menu, with Akira looking back at her.

“Do you know what you would like?” he asked after a few seconds.

“House blend,” Kasumi responded, looking back down.

Nodding his head, Akira went to work, pulling some grinds out of a container and putting them into the top of the siphon as he let it go to work, keeping an eye on it as he waited for bubbles to form in the lower chamber.

“So, what brings you here?” Akira asked once he saw the water boil, looking at Kasumi as she tried to do her best to ignore him, looking around the shop.

“I don’t think you came for a simple cup of coffee with how long you stood outside.”

That got her attention, making Kasumi pause as Akira looked back at the siphon as if he knew it.

“Wha-”

“It’s a weekend and no one just stops in front of a store like this unless they want to come in. And I know all the regulars’ faces by now,” Akira said, looking back at Kasumi once vapor had started to rise up, the grinds becoming visibly damper.

“What if I did want a cup of coffee?” Kasumi asked, suddenly worried that she had gone in over her head. Even if she said that she was going to protect her sister, this was perhaps more than she could deal with. Especially if the rumors were true.

Akira chuckled. “That’s always a possibility. But knowing you and your current behavior at school, that’s not it either.”

Kasumi continued to look on in horror as she wondered how he managed to get such a firm grasp at her situation as he looked back at the siphon. Akira just stood there, getting a cup out as he nodded at the look of the brew, slowly letting it the finished drink trickle its way back down into the lower chamber.

“This is about your sister, isn't, Miss Yoshizawa?” he asked with a smug grin on his face, pouring the drink into the cup and putting it down in front of the shocked gymnast.

“Enjoy,” he said, grin not leaving his face as he turned to the door, morphing into a gentle smile as some of the regulars entered.

Looking at the cup of coffee, Kasumi seemed somewhat shaken, hand slowly reaching for the cup as Akira went to work on the next batch, nodding in confirmation that he knew their orders.

As if to seemingly mock her, Kasumi’s surprised face was reflected back at her, prompting her to quickly take a sip, hoping for the image to disappear. She regretted it, as the drink was a bit hotter than she expected. Trying her best to not look a fool, Kasumi quickly swallowed, before the bitter flavor hit her tongue.

Looking up, she saw the smug look on Akira’s face looking down at her. Trying her best to look away, a sudden ‘BANG!!’ came from upstairs, making her flinch.

“Futaba!”

As she sat there in silence, Kasumi watched as Akira flew up the stairs, not even bothering to turn the siphons off as he left. One of the regulars got up and turned the flames off themselves, understanding looks on their faces as Kasumi watched him sit back down.

A few seconds later, someone else entered the cafe, making Kasumi turn to face them.

“Oh, a new face,” the man said, bags in hand as he slid behind the counter, looking at the incomplete coffee before him.

Noticing a missing Akira, the man looked at the other customers with a stern look, before they pointed upstairs. The man’s face softened, asking if it was their regular order as he emptied the siphons as they nodded, leaving Kasumi partially confused.

Slowly making her way through her cup, Kasumi was about to get up and leave when she heard movement from the stairs. Stopping and turning back, she saw Akira’s face poking out, eyes scanning the store and landed on her.

“There’s a new face there. Do you want to wait till they leave?”

A hand pulling on his hair.

“Alright. Give Mona some lovings.”

As she hesitated a bit, Kasumi eventually put her payment on the counter and walked out, seemingly unsure of what she was supposed to do now.

Whoever Akira had been talking to, they didn't like meeting new people, and she was unsure if she could keep poking if she wanted to get the information that she wanted if she seemingly threatened the person who was upstairs.

Eventually slipping into an alley, Kasumi kept her eyes on Leblanc before pulling her head back as she watched the door open. After a few seconds, she heard Akira speak. What it was, she couldn’t hear, he was speaking softly, but there was no response.

After a few seconds, she heard the sound of a door closing and poked her head out, wondering who the person Akira would be escorting.

It was a small girl, even smaller than she was, with knee-length orange hair who was holding onto Akira like she would float away if she let go.

Keeping his pace with hers, Kasumi watched as Akira slowly guided the girl down the street, putting himself between her and the road as they walked away.

Maybe she should stop for now. And try to get the bitter flavor off her tongue.

Today’s results: Kasumi’s defeat.  
(She bought some instant coffee and went home, struggling to finish a single cup)


	3. Akira makes a ‘friend’

As his phone was staying rather quiet, Akira slouched back in his chair, waiting for a message to come in.

Taking a peek at the clock, he figured that he would wait about five minutes before he would act, heading to Leblanc without concern when he felt someone come up to him. Well, it wasn’t that he felt it, just that the classroom had suddenly gone quiet.

“Yo, can I talk to you?”

Lowering his glasses to look in their reflection, there was a palpable tension in the air when Akira put them back on and turned around to face the person who spoke to him.

Ever since he had come to Shujin, he never responded to anyone who went up to him. People even made it a game where they would try to get a reaction out of him, but they stopped when he caught the eraser that went his way and threw it at Mr. Ushimaru, who read the name on the eraser and promptly punished the student who it belonged to.

Even if they wanted to be mad, his skill was undeniable when he threw it in a manner that made it seem like the owner was one who threw it, and they were on the other side of the classroom.

“Yes?”

Feeling the tension in the air, the guy looked around the room and pointed towards the door.

“I have some things I want to ask you.”

Even though the guy who approached him thought his rep was bad, he couldn’t compare to the aura he felt around Akira.

Sakamoto Ryuji.

He was the best-known delinquent at Shujin before Akira had arrived. His signature blond hair and open jacket with a graphic-t made him well known as one of the people who had their lives changed by Kamoshida in some shape or form.

A supposed violent side of him was widely known, as him punching Kamoshida was acknowledged as the collapse of the track team. No one really spoke with him after that, so the fact that he had gone up to someone was something that no one was expecting.

Looking at the door and back to his phone, Akira shrugged.

“Five minutes, be at the school gate.”

Silence dominated the room as everyone watched Ryuji leave, nervous sweat visible as he walked out the door.

_Is he going to be okay?_

_As expected from the guy who caught Kamoshida_

_Is there any proof that he did?_

_But he had the motive to…_

Filtering out the sound around him, Akira responded to a text he got and stood up, the room falling silent the moment they heard his chair move.

Wondering if he had made the right decision or not, Ryuji was starting to visibly sweat again as he sat at the counter of a small shop while Akira stood behind it.

When he waited by the school gate as he was told to do so, he seemed unsure of what was going to happen, when Akira called him out.

His face was as neutral as ever, and when he got close, he just said ‘Follow me’ and walked right out of the gates. Unsure if this was what Akira wanted or not, Ryuji just tagged along, following him to the station, and now here he was.

“Do you drink coffee?” Akira asked, checking some gear behind the counter.

“No,” Ryuji responded, though a part of him was suddenly afraid that he said it too harshly.

“That’s fine, I don’t drink it much either,” Akira responded, going into the fridge and pulling a can of something out.

Tossing it, Ryuji caught a can of cola as Akira pulled out some tea leaves and put them in the top of the siphon.

“Don’t you have a teapot?” Ryuji asked, opening the can and taking a sip as Akira smirked.

“I wish,” Akira said, watching the steam start to rise up.

“Though I have to make do with what I have, living here under parol. It’s hard when you can’t do what you want because of one incident, isn't it?” There was an undertone in that response as Akira watched the water start to come down and fill the second chamber.

Furrowing his brows at that, Ryuji looked at Akira like he was hiding something with the way he gave his response.

“Let me tell you something upfront, Sakamoto,” Akira started, pouring the tea into a cup and taking a quick sniff, as if to mock the fact he made tea in a coffee maker.

“I don’t know why you wanted to talk to me. Maybe you wanted to know if I really did out Kamoshida, to see what sort of person could do that,” Akira said, a small look of dissatisfaction on his face as he sipped his tea, ‘damned coffee’ muttered under his breath.

“You are free to think whatever you want, but know this much, if you want a friend in me, you have to tell me straight up.”

As if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, Ryuji looked at Akira like some of his screws were loose.

“What?” Ryuji asked, forgetting about the cola in his hands, seemingly trying to figure out what Akira was thinking as he watched him smirk again.

“Now, I have a vague idea of what you’re thinking, that you calling me out had nothing to do with becoming friends with me,” Akira said, taking another sip of tea. “But let me tell you something, I don’t trust people that quickly, so I’m not saying anything to someone who just wants to talk, but to a friend,” he said, finishing the tea and lowering his cup.

“Well, I would be more inclined to talk, wouldn’t I?”

Sitting there in silence, Ryuji sat there for a moment, trying to figure out what he could say before Akira let out a chuckle.

“You don’t need a response now. Take your time thinking about this, but know that if you want to be friends, you can generally find me here or in class after school.”

Sitting on the bed as he waited, Akira listened to the ‘click-clack’ of a keyboard, waiting as the person sitting in front of an impressive PC setup went through everything that was before their screen.

“Ha~~”

“Did you finish your game?” Akira asked, looking up as the person seated in the chair spun around.

“Yep!”

“Easy?”

“Yep! Can’t believe I could win that easily with the bots I made.”

Smirking at the response, Akira got up and rustled the person’s hair, headphones falling to her neck as she leaned into it.

“You can’t go pro if you can’t communicate with human players.”

“Who said anything about going pro! Besides, no one ever trusts my strategies even though they perfectly counter the meta.”

Laughing at that, Akira pulled his hand back.

“Still, now that you're done, you get what I asked for?” he asked, leaning over to look at her screens.

With a mock salute, she turned her chair around and pulled up everything she found.

“Thanks again, Futaba,” Akira said, rustling her hair as he looked at all the information about Sakatomo Ryuji that fit on the screen.

“Aye!”

Today’s results: Ryuji's defeat  
(He checked out some teapots on his way home)


	4. Kasumi wants to know

As they had for a few weeks now, Akira and Sumire were eating their lunches in the student council room, but they had a visitor this time around.

Sitting down next to her sister, Kasumi was eating her portion while she looked at Akira, his face neutral as he was scrolling through something on his phone. He looked perhaps a bit too casual for the situation, as he looked like he was waiting for the two of them to finish eating. And Sumire didn’t seem to mind.

And that was what made Kasumi feel so uneasy.

Having heard some bits and pieces from Sumire when she talked with their parents, it sounded like he was barely getting by for lunch. Somehow, it led to her sister had given him some of her food after hearing how much the first years had been talking up her lunches.

Sumire's self-doubting tendencies made it so that she thought that she had to prove Akira wrong, so she had given him a good amount of food to prove that she wasn’t a good cook.

Kasumi thought that Sumire was an amazing cook; she wouldn’t ask her to be the one to make their lunches if she didn’t think so. The fact that Akira complemented her made Kasumi feel equal parts frustration and gratitude; frustration that he was getting anything and gratitude that he was complimenting her sister. But if she would stay happy with those complements would be something else.

What’s more, while Sumire sounded like she was complaining about it when she was talking with their parents, Kasumi swore that Sumire seemed to have the smallest of smiles on her face when she talked about him.

As much as she hated to admit it, Akira was doing wonders for her sister, and Kasumi wanted to see exactly how he was doing it.

Continuing to eat her lunch, Kasumi looked as Sumire seemed somewhat nervous that her sister was sitting in on the meeting, her own pace while eating being rather slow.

“Are you okay?” Kasumi asked, startling Sumire as she looked up, her glasses sliding down a bit as she jumped in her seat.

“Ah, yes. I’m fine,” she responded, sliding her glasses back up as she looked at Akira, who gave her a quick glance and put his phone down.

“And you still haven’t eaten anything, did you forget?” Kasumi asked Akira, who shrugged.

“If you would please,” he said, stretching a hand out to Sumire.

With a nod, Sumire reached into her bag and pulled out a separate bento box, making Kasumi stop and stare.

“What?!” Kasumi shouted, leaping up from her seat.

“I, I’m sorry. I, um,” Sumire said softly, shrinking back at Kasumi’s loud voice while Akira just took the box and opened it.

“No, sorry, I didn’t mean to shout,” Kasumi said, sitting back down as Akira started to eat, a smirk on his face as he looked at the elder sister.

“Why did you give him a lunch?” Kasumi asked once she had calmed down a bit, looking to see that Ren had eaten a quarter of the lunch in the time she took to calm down.

Sumire seemed somewhat hesitant to answer, looking between Akira, who was still destroying the food, and her sister, wondering if she would be mad.

As Kasumi watched trying to figure out what she should do, the last person she wanted to interject stuck a finger out, lowering his chopsticks and waiting for his mouth to empty before speaking.

“She tried to prove me wrong,” he said, a sharp grin on his face as he looked at Sumire, blushing as she realized what his grin meant.

“Prove you wrong?” Kasumi asked, looking at the blushing Sumire as she started to eat at her normal pace again, a small smile on her face.

“Every time she gives me something, it’s only a portion of a meal,” Akira said, taking a bite of several smaller things to emphasize his point.

“But she says that it’s not good on its own, even less so as a full set,” Akira continued, smiling as he started to eat the rest of his lunch.

There was a brief moment of silence as he finished it, with Sumire seemingly matching his pace.

“So I said ‘prove it,’” he finished with a grin, passing the empty box to Sumire, who took it, a look of expectation on her face.

“And I will say, it was delicious.”

Sitting on it for a few seconds, Sumire took the box and looked away, her head down as she put away in her bag.

“Now, I can’t see your happy face if you keep looking down like that,” Akira smirked, making Sumire look straight up, a blush on her face.

“Ah, I. I’m not happy!” Sumire said, looking at Akira, who kept his steady smirk, watching as Kasumi looked on in surprise.

“Come on, it was good,” Akira pressed on, patting his stomach for emphasis.

“It’s not good!” Sumire shouted back, as Kasumi continued to look on in shock at the amount of emotion her sister was showing.

“It’s not good, it’s nothing special,” Sumire continued, her glasses sliding down again as she looked down at Akira, still leaning in his chair as he looked at her.

“Oh, it was plenty special,” Akira countered, filling Kasumi with a sense of dread as she felt that she knew where this was going.

“That’s the first bento a girl has given me. And of all people, I’m glad it’s you.”

Looking at Akira in shock, Kasumi could only think of how her sister would respond to such a declaration, and it seemed like she didn’t take it well; blush growing ever fiercer as she tried to stutter a response.

“I, I,” she looked at Akira, grin still wide on his face, before it disappeared without a trace as his phone vibrated, clattering on the table before he picked it up.

“Hey,” he responded, face neutral as he reached for his bag.

“Do I need to come?” he continued, standing up and walking for the door.

“Did you call the school?”

“All right. I’ll be there in half an hour.”

And without a second thought, Akira stepped out of the room, leaving the two sisters together as they watched him go without a ‘farewell,’ though it seemed by his pace that he had something else on his mind.

“What was that about?” Kasumi asked, turning to face her sister as she sat back down, finishing the rest of her lunch as she readjusted her glasses.

“I’m not sure, but some people see him walk out of school all the time,” Sumire said, staying quiet as she worked on the rest of her meal.

“Maybe it’s about orange hair,” Kasumi said to herself, making Sumire look at her, wondering what her sister meant by that.

Today’s results: Kasumi’s defeat  
(The thought of orange hair stayed with her for several days afterward)


	5. Futaba sneaks in

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, it's been like a month since this has been updated.  
> And when I said this is out of order chronologically, I meant it.  
> Cause we have a certain first encounter in this one.

Reaching for the door and slowly opening it, a girl kept an eye on the bell that she knew was on the other side, slowly moving as she looked at the person who was sitting at the counter, seemingly engrossed in a book as he was drinking something.

To be honest, she was unable to believe that she was going to do this. Sneaking out was one thing; she had learned all the regular patterns by this point, but the person she was watching now was something she didn’t know.

But she had to, as this was probably her last chance to do so. She wasn’t going to let an outside force make her leave.

Sakura Futaba.

Effectively a NEET, she stopped going to school after graduating from middle school but was considered to be a genius when it came to computers and programming. She had been living with Sojiro for about two years after her mother had died, but it didn’t mean that those two years were spent perfectly.

Even if he didn’t say anything about it, Futaba knew that he was crushed in being unable to do anything for her, especially considering the circumstance that surrounded her mother’s death. He wasn’t perfect, but he was the only one who tried to help her. And if the guy sitting at the counter could threaten that balance.

Taking a chance when he got up and walked towards the stairs, Futaba slid in, thinking that she was super amazing, managing to sneak inside without being noticed. But if it was the high from doing something like this or just general obliviousness, she didn’t hear her bag bump against the door, the metallic sound more than enough to tip him off that she was inside.

Sitting behind the counter for a few minutes, Futaba continued to wait as the sound of the toilet flushed, with footsteps making their way back to the counter, and the sound of the chair moving was heard.

Perfect.

Opening her bag up, Futaba started to pull everything out, making sure that she put them down gently as she sat under the counter, listening as she waited for him to get up and head upstairs.

“Com’ on, guy, go up,” she muttered, her legs starting to cramp after a few minutes from her sitting posture under the counter as she had all of her equipment laid out.

Maybe an hour passed before Futaba heard the sound of the chair moving again. She shifted her posture and held her breath, waiting to hear him go up the stairs.

But then she heard the faucet running, and a part of her jumped, wondering why he would’ve gone to the sink. After a few seconds and the clinking of some cups, Futaba cursed under her breath as she realized that she forgot an obvious thing.

He was drinking something when she was watching him, which was probably why he got up and entered the bathroom.

Holding her breath as she waited for the sound of water to stop, Futaba wondered if she was going to get caught.

It was the first time that she thought of the possibility, as she was so focused on setting up the bugs that she didn’t stop to think about being spotted.

The possibly was real, especially since he would be the only one who would be there at that time, and if there were any sounds, he would be the one to check it out.

Realizing that it was too late to pull out now, Futaba grit her teeth as she tried to think about what to do when she felt something sit on her lap.

“Meow.”

“AHHH!” Futaba screamed, leaping up and smashing her head into the counter, rattling some of the glass and ceramic.

“Ah, Mona got to you first,” a voice said, making Futaba pause while holding her head, the sound of water running having stopped a few seconds earlier.

“Never seen a cat before?”

Trying to not look at the voice, Futaba stayed still as the cat continued to sit in her lap, curling up a bit as it tried to put its head under her hand, her panic building as she wondered what she was supposed to do.

“If you want a drink, we’ve passed closing hours.”

His face suddenly appeared before her, a light grin on it as he looked at her, his glasses slightly down on his nose.

Eyes widening at the presence of a face, Futaba could only look at it with horror before it turned to look towards her feet.

“Quite an impressive tool kit you got there,” the guy continued, bending over as he picked up a mic from the pile.

“Makes me wonder what you are doing here.”

“Ah, I, uh,” Futaba stuttered, tears forming in her eyes as the cat started to paw up her stomach, wondering where its lovings were.

“Well, if you have nothing to say, I should probably call…”

“Get out!” Futaba shouted, starting the guy as he turned to look at her.

“What?”

“Get out!” Futaba shouted again, the cat leaving her lap at the loud noise.

“I live here,” the guy said.

“Don’t cause any problems for Sojiro!”

A pause.

“What?”

“I-I know about you!” Futaba pointed a finger at him, a small trickle of tears now flowing down. “Y-you’re a criminal, and you got sent here! You just cause trouble!”

“Now, now,” the guy started, sitting down on the floor.

“Sojiro doesn’t need more trouble!” Futaba continued, her tears flowing more freely.

“If there’s trouble, Sojiro won’t, Sojiro won’t…”

Unable to finish the sentence, Futaba broke down crying, curling up as she buried her face in her knees.

Sitting down on the floor, Akira scooted closer to the girl, as Mona walked up to him, looking at him while nudging his hand.

“Yeah, yeah, Mona. I’ll give you your lovings.”

Mewing as he got up, the cat sat in Akira’s lap, purring as he got his lovings while Akira sat down and waited for the girl to calm down, wondering what he was going to tell Sojiro in the morning and be glad that tomorrow was Sunday.


End file.
